Enough Empty Promises, says Vegreville Mayor

The railway crossing along Secondary Highway 857 in Vegreville has been the source of frustration of residents, motorists and elected officials who are dissatisfied with its maintenance. (Michelle Pinon/Photo)

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

Vegreville Mayor Tim MacPhee said the town has heard enough empty promises from CN Rail, and previous requests for maintenance on the Secondary Highway 857 crossing have gone unanswered.

MacPhee was verbally responding to a July 10 letter that was addressed to him and town councillors from Vegreville resident Jane Tennant who was asking for something to be done at that railway crossing.

Tennant wanted to know if maintenance of the railway crossing is the responsibility of the town or CN, and if it’s up to CN, for the town to get “some action” on the matter. MacPhee stated during the July 14 legislative committee meeting that maintenance is CN’s responsibility.

In her letter, Tennant also stated, “Motorists have put up with the deplorable condition of this crossing long enough. Also, it should be brought to CN’s attention that they should be repairing and upgrading all the crossings within the town limits. The only one that was ever worked on is the one just east of the Co-op.

I would hope as town officials that this concern could be followed up on and contact made with CN head office in Winnipeg, until such time as there are some results, something more than empty promises.”

After reading the letter, MacPhee responded by saying, “Well, we’ve certainly had enough empty promises. Our Premier has put in a new Bill in this province that we’re not allowed to block transportation systems like the railroad. I have threatened CN to block, shut it down for a week while we did some fixing.

We had a definite promise from CN. A lady from that department, but she’s moved up and her replacement doesn’t seem to know anything about Vegreville. I think that Ms. Tennant is right, we need to get something done with CN here. If it means I have to go back and do another threat I’m willing to do it.”

Coun. Tina Warawa said the obvious first step would be to get back to Ms. Tennant and let her know the town has been working on the matter. “I would suggest the town or the mayor write a letter to our MP as there is a CN rep. provided to local MP’s to send forward municipal issues they receive. It can’t hurt anything. And it could be a possible first step, and one that’s been used by other municipalities.”

MacPhee said he had dropped off the previous letter he had wrote to CN to Tennant and said she had read it. He went on to say, “It is very frustrating. The lack of cooperation. It’s an organization that goes through so many municipalities, who can take the interests of those municipalities so lightly. It’s unbelievable. I will reach out to our MP regarding this matter, and get another letter off to the President of CN.” On January 13, 2020, MacPhee wrote a letter to CN Executive Vice-President Sean Finn, informing him that, “The Town of Vegreville continues to receive significant amounts of complaints from our residents regarding the poor condition of the CN crossing on Secondary Highway 857 north.

This crossing has large uneven heaves in the asphalt and is extremely rough. As a result, town administration has reached out on numerous occasions to both CN and Alberta Transportation with no satisfactory result. We have not received a response from CN for seven months, Alberta Transportation has limited information and cannot confirm if this crossing is going to be repaired, let alone when it will be repaired. Therefore, Vegreville town council has decided that the Town of Vegreville will undertake repair of the asphalt at this crossing starting May 5, 2020.”

That repair was not undertaken by the town. Kaleb Brink, Communications Coordinator for the Town of Vegreville, said the town did not complete any repairs to the highway or rail crossing, and the asphalt work that was completed on the crossing last week was done by Emcon, which is contracted by the Province.

Enough Empty Promises, says Vegreville Mayor